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Not a single threat was in sight. He couldn’t hear any sound, not even the soft whispering of the autumn breeze that had drifted across him only a moment ago.

Was this a new illusion that he was meant to break? Lorelei had handled all of the magical challenges for their partnership thus far, but perhaps, if he put his mind to it …

“CAREFUL.” It was a vast, sighing breath through the trees and across the field, so strong that it bent those distant branches and made the hair on his wrists and the back of his neck stand up. Goose bumps broke out all across his skin.

That was no mere illusion … and had it been a woman’s voice?

Slowly and carefully, Gerard slipped one hand to the hilt of his sword, but he didn’t draw it.

“Hello?” he called out. “I mean you no harm, madam.”

Were fae crowds still watching him from those empty stands? This didn’t feel like any of the challenges he’d faced yesterday.

Perhaps it was one of those more difficult trials that Lorelei had promised would arrive on the second day. Was he about to be posed an enigmatic riddle? Or set upon some sort of quest?

The trees beyond the field began to ripple even before that sighing voice reached him once more, sounding both massive and impossibly distant. Its power resonated through his body but forced his ears to strain after every word. “WE ONLY HAVE … MOMENT … TOGETHER,” that impossible voice sighed out. “YOU … NOT OF MINE, BUT STILL … WARNING:

“BE CAREFUL WITH HER!”

With the force of that final, urgent command, a blast of cool air swept from the forest across the field, nearly knocking Gerard off his feet. Staggering, he squeezed his eyes shut against the painful, stinging force of it—and breathed in the sudden, overpowering scent of fresh greenery mingled with sweet-smelling rose blossoms.

“Lorelei?” he whispered, his voice caught in the unnatural wind.

A storm of sound erupted around him in answer. Opening his eyes, he found himself transplanted into a new setting after all, standing—heart still pounding and skin hotly prickling—in the middle of a lushly crowded greenhouse with a high, rounded ceiling. The warm, moist air was filled with cheeping, singing, and squabbling birds who strutted proudly along the pathways and flew over his head, their wings flashing bright shades of blue, yellow, and green. The floor itself was lined with rows of tall green plants. Colorful flowers bloomed all around, and several of Gerard’s opponents stood braced for action nearby, looking as startled as if they, too, had only just arrived … but not nearly as shocked as they ought to if they’d experienced anything like his unnerving interaction beforehand.

Had any time passed for the rest of them since Lord Oberon’s announcement? Gerard couldn’t help the irrational but powerful conviction that time had somehow held still for him alone on that field, as if he’d been scooped out from the ordinary turning of the day by someone—or something?—to receive that enigmatic warning.

But why? Gerard, of all people, hardly needed any magical intercessions to warn him against his own abductor.

… Who, he realized abruptly, was nowhere to be seen.

Lorelei wasn’t the only one who was missing. As Gerard swiftly catalogued the competitors around him, he realized that everyone here had been separated from their partners for the first time since the tournament’s opening trial.

That challenge had been designed to prove that each partner had the strength to fight on their own, without their partner’s help. What was this new trial meant to test?

A deep and ominous bell chimed in one corner of the greenhouse, and Gerard’s gaze snapped to the face of the tall clock that stood there, surrounded by glistening yellow flowers. His brows lowered as he watched the thin second hand move steadily in the wrong direction.

Fae time might not match up with the mortal world, but he’d never heard of it ticking backwards …

Aha. This wasn’t a real clock at all. It was a visual countdown device. Judging by the pace of those slow ticks, Gerard judged that he had less than ten minutes to complete the full trial before failure would be declared. As so many of this morning’s competitors had been planted in the same room together, he must be in competition to complete it before anyone else.

And in order to complete it …

Of course. Letting out a controlled breath, Gerard finally wrenched the last of his scattered thoughts out of that empty field he’d just left and squarely into the moment of this challenge.

What else could the goal be? There was just one thing everyone here was missing … and oh, how the fae did love their illusions!

Every sense alert for clues—and danger—Gerard began to slowly pace the rows of the greenhouse, searching for his missing partner.

Around him, other fae were calling out to their own partners without any luck. This had to be a true spell in action, not just an illusion, if it had taken away the volition of all those lost competitors as well as disguising them. Lorelei wouldn’t be able to come to Gerard herself or offer him any helpful hints.

He would have to hunt her down on his own, regardless of her disguise. Otherwise …

What was it that Oberon had said to everyone at the beginning of this challenge? “Many others may be lost to us forever.”

A chill formed at the base of Gerard’s spine, spreading rapidly upwards. What would happen if he didn’t find Lorelei in time? Regardless of whether or not they won this challenge, would she be set free at the end of it? Or would she remain trapped in her spelled shape in this lush greenhouse forever?

He thought back to the self-satisfied smirk on Oberon’s face and knew the answer.